Pork bellies

Ethelred, our baby boar, is growing in leaps and bounds. Being a boy and being so little, we have had to keep him separate from the larger girls. Therefore, he is very lonely and although he started out being kind of suspicious and standoffish, he now seeks attention and when I tickle his side, he rolls over and lets me scratch his belly. He lies there, with his eyes closed, in ecstasy. I think it is a good thing that he is so tame as one day in the not too distant future, he will be a great big creature, all tusks and fangs- so the fact that he will roll over and even let you examine his fangs is definitely good.

Chicks are hatching today. We put over 20 eggs from the Americaunas and the Buff orpingtons into the incubator 3 weeks ago and today is the big day. 4 so far and many more eggs pipped and starting to show signs of life. I love little chicks. Something about their combination energy and cuddliness. They love to snuggle under your hand- instinct, I know, but it is still sweet. I can hear one making lots of noise in the incubator now, but you are not meant to open it too often to remove them, so I may have to resist the tempation of taking it out.

The trouble with gardens

Gardening, like farming, is at the mercy of mother nature and something even more unpredictable, perhaps fate.Each spring the gardener begins, full of hope and visions of the season to come. And as time goes by, reality sets in, in the form of too much rain, too little rain, too hot, too cold, too many damned cucumber beetles. And then, that perfect garden that was to produce a veritable bounty of vegetables becomes just another burden, with weeds popping up with admirable vigour.

Very poor germination of the corn, onions and peas this year. Old seeds, maybe? Cucumber beetles consumed 5 of the cucumber and squash plants within a day of planting out. Where to they hide? What would they eat if we didn't plant cucumbers?

Rain today. Needed it as things were looking rather parched, though it will wash off the Rotenone and give the beetles another go at my little plants.

Manure Spreading

Moved a mountain of cow manure today using our ATV and mini manure spreader. Still have nearly a year's worth to go and all the horse stuff.

Garden mostly planted. No rain for a few weeks and everything is parched but it forecasts rain for the next few days.

Cow was in heat on Wednesday. Must keep track as we plan to breed her next cycle. Pigs are getting large; due in a couple of weeks. We have made 2 lovely farrowing houses for them so I hope they are happy to use them and don't decide to have their babies in the woods.

Ethelred, the young boar is getting to be very friendly and rolls over to let me pet his belly. I am getting quite attached to him and am not sure that I want to send him to John's to live.

Turkeys now 2 weeks old and looking healthy. We have been using John's technique of putting buttermilk in the water and it seems to work. Meat king chicks come next week and we will try that with them.

Touche has had a nasty stone bruise for the past week or so, putting him out of commission. Louise has been riding Follie instead. We have bought a huge truck so we can haul the horseS around to various events.